Budapest offers all the entertainment you need: bars, clubs, museums, opera houses, palaces and restaurants and the best views of the river Danube, which runs between the cities of Buda and Pest.

Budapest is the city of festivals - several major cultural events are held in and around the city every year. Whichever time of year you come, something will be happening. The Budapest Spring Festival, the Summer Opera and Ballet Festival, the Jewish Summer Festival, the Budapest International Wine and Champagne Festival, these are just some of the capital's cultural programs. The region's villages are, in increasing number, becoming active in organising cultural programs of their own.

Gypsy music is often featured in tourist restaurants.

Budapest has numerous restaurants, bars and nightclubs and some of them are directed exclusively to tourists. Some of these places are simply too expensive: they charge much more for the food and service than you would pay in an exclusive location. Do not ask for anything without asking the price.

 

Budapest is an enigmatic city rich in culture and virtuosity. Famous for its many medicinal waters, this great European capital has another treasure: an enviable cultural life. Thanks to its geographical position and its historical origins, Budapest has a rich variety of arts and cultural buildings. Moreover, culture in Budapest is not restricted to a small elite, but is immersed in daily life: art, music, literature … All citizens are a part of it.

Many of the most transcendent and beautiful monuments and palaces have become home to major museums, concert halls and theaters. In Hungary there are about 1,300 art galleries, museums and collections, of which 225 are in Budapest.

Budapest hosts a festival of classical music world’s most famous: the Budapest Spring Festival and the Budapest Autumn Festival.

In addition to classical music in the city can enjoy a rich offering of cultural programs such as theater, dance and opera at the Budapest Opera House and Erkel Theatre, the popular operettas and musical composers Kálmán Lehár and Abraham in the Operetta Theatre, or works in foreign languages Merlin Theatre.

Art lovers and museums need more than one day to discover the delights that the city proposes. The Museum of Fine Arts is the most important, as it is recorded among the most important museums in Europe. Has an important collection of works of art from around the world, among which the Spanish collection, with special attention to the paintings of El Greco and collections of Flanders, Holland and graphics.

 

Eating Out

Budapest has a wide selection of restaurants, generally of a high standard. Many serve traditional Hungarian food although there are also many Italian, Asian and branded fast food restaurants.

In fact there are more than 1,000 restaurants and eateries within Budapest city limits and they range from exclusive fine dining to fast food burger bars and pizza takeaways. Most restaurants display prices at the entrance.

 

Budapest restaurants

Fatal - despite its name, people queue to get in this vaulted cellar. Food is served on wooden boards (they're called fatál in Hungarian) and the portions are hearty. It's in the popular Vaci utca in Pest.

Cyrano - The prices are reasonable at this well-known restaurant at Kristof ter in the centre of Pest. The decor is Gaudiesque.

Pest Buda - a very pleasant, atmospheric restaurant - often with piano music - in the Castle district of Buda near to the Hilton hotel at Fortuna utca 3. The prices are reasonable for such a location and the food excellent.

Horvath Gosser - this has been a favourite of the famous football legend Ferenc Puskas. Good food at reasonable prices. In Buda at Krisztina ter 3.

Klassz - near the Opera House, this is a popular good-value spot but you might have to queue as they don't take reservations. There's a real buzz and excellent Hungarian cuisine.

Muzeum - next to the Magyar Nemzeti Musem on Muzeum krt in Pest, try this for a stylish candle-lit dinner.

Rézkakas - if you are looking for good food with gypsy music in very pleasant surroundings, this could be just the place. It's at Veres Pálné u. 3. on Pest, not far from the Elizabeth bridge.

Gundel - one of the most famous restaurants in Budapest. Founded by Johann Gundel, who trained at the famous Sacher hotel in Vienna, the restaurant Gundel is an institution famed for dishes that were developed here.

The summer garden and the music will make this an experience to remember - as might the prices! In Pest at Allatkerti ut 2.

Bagolyvar - an annexe to the Gundel and more affordable. Traditional cooking and a beautiful dining room.

Alabardos - the name means 'Beefeater' but it's a million miles in style from the British pub chain. The food is delicious with dishes such as grilled foie gras, poultry and game. It's expensive and can be found at Orsaghaz utca 2 in Buda.

 

 

Budapest cafes

Budapest is famous for its pastries and coffee houses. Coffee arrived with the Turkish occupation in the 1500s and the art of good living prospered in the 19th century when Budapest was the capital of a mighty Central European empire.

High-quality cafés are everywhere in Budapest. In the first half of the 20th century, Budapest was a city of coffee houses and cafés, very much like its nearby neighbour, Vienna. Today, those cafés are being discovered by visitors to Budapest from around the world.

Often lavishly furnished, the large windows make the cafés an extension of street life. Here you can pass many hours over just one cup of coffee, a strong mocha similar to an Italian espresso and very much the national drink of Hungary.

The pastries of Budapest are famous. Favourites include:

Krémes - custard slices 
Rákóczi-túrós - cheesecake with meringue and apricot jam 
Dobos - popular baked jelly roll with a caramel glaze. 
Lúdlábtorta - chocolate cream gateau 
Gesztenye - sweet chesnuts dipped in chocolate. 
Krumpli - marzipan balls in cocoa powder

Budapest can still boast many luxurious and characterful cafés and coffee houses which ooze history. Here's a selection of Budapest's finest:

Gerbeaud

The world-famous café on Vorosmarty ter. Coffee or tea with top-quality pastries is an art form in Budapest with Gerbeaud the Old Master. Visitors from all over the world come to enjoy the ambience. Light lunches are remarkable value for such an exclusive and famous venue.

Gerbeaud Sorhaz, in the same building, provides hearty pub food with Gerbeaud's exclusively brewed beer.

New York

On the korut Jozef, near Blaha Luiza ter, (trams 4 and 6), the New York café has recently been restored to its former glory. This is relaxation in style!

The New York was the artistic hub of Budapest where great names of literature and cinema met. Closed from 2001 for a major refurbishment of the entire New York Palace Hotel, the café was reopened in 2006 in its original pomp.

Ruszwurm

In the Buda castle district, this small stylish cake shop is packed with charm - and customers. There's often a queue to get in this café, one of the oldest in Hungary. Austrian royals are said to have been regular customers in the days of the Habsburgs. It's at Buda 1 Szentharomsag u.7.

Angelika

Particularly enjoyable on a summer day on the Danube-side terrace, this Buda café boasts its own speciality - Angelika torte, a sumptuous chocolate and vanilla cake.

Mozart

As you'd expect, this café comes with a little music. It's on the packed krt Erzsebet (trams 4 and 6) and is a peaceful enclave with traditionally dressed staff.

Muvesz

On the magnificent Andrassy ut, Budapest's copy of Paris' Champs Elysee, Muvesz is near the Opera House and features magnificent chandeliers.

Gellert Hotel

The Gellert is a Budapest institution. The massive hotel at the Buda end of the Liberation bridge, with its popular thermal indoor and outdoor baths, boasts a café with magnificent pastries and decor to match.

 

 

 

Budapest nightlife

Budapest offers a wide range of entertainment from amongst the finest opera in the world to the more exotic.

Hungary has a strong classical music tradition and many churches and other venues offer popular classical concerts.

Budapest nightclubs can be a problem. Most are fine but some have a reputation for ripping off tourists. Avoid places that do not display prices (it's required by law) and politely refuse to buy drinks for women at the bar - unless, of course, it's the one you arrived with!

State Opera House

Almost worth a visit for the building itself, possibly the finest in Europe, on Andrassy ut. There's classical opera and many other world-class performances in this sumptuous building dating from 1875. Tickets are about 25% of the price at Vienna's. The box office is open from 11am on Tuesdays to Saturdays until the performance starts.

National Concert Hall and Palace of Arts

This is a huge performance centre featuring top Hungarian and international artists.

Franz Liszt Academy of Music

Another building that's worth popping in just to see the hallway, or lobby, with its magnificent decor. The Academy in Pest, housed in an Art Nouveau building, is both a classical music school and a venue for top performances.

National Dance Theatre

In a building near the top of the funicular in the Castle district of Buda - it has the President of Hungary's residence next door - the National Dance Theatre hosts classical and contemporary dance by Hungary's top companies.

Folk Dancing

The Hungarian State Folk Ensemble, the Danube Folk Ensemble and the Rajko Folk Ensemble all give performances in Budapest. The main theatre is the Danube Palace, or Duna Palota, dating from 1895.

Budapest cinema and theatre

There's a number of English-language cinemas in Budapest - Corvin (Corvin koz 1); Kossuth Moz (Vacu ut 14) and Palace Westend (Westend City Centre), all in Pest. In Buda, try Mammut Mozi at Mammut Mall, Lovohaz u. 2-6. Check out their programmes locally

Budapest nightclubs

There's a full range of entertainment, including many clubs on boats moored on the Danube - try the Columbus Jazz Club, at Vigado ter, or A38 Ship, an ex-Ukrainian stone carrier ship and now techno-music and dance venue moored near Petofi Bridge, south from the Liberty bridge.

Other interesting venues include the Feszek Club, described as 'a hidden den of intriguing nightowls' and a cellar hotspot at Kertesz u, at the corner of Dob utca.

The Gödör Klub is a huge underground club with a wide range of music while Moulin Rouge has cabaret-style shows at Nagymezo u. 17. In the same street at number 25, Piaf is a club featuring the French singer's music.

Budapest strip clubs

While Budapest hasn't yet attracted stag nights in quite the same numbers as Prague or Riga, there's an array of exotic entertainment in Budapest. Check out the Royal Palace or P1, the 2009 award-winning stripclub of Budapest.

Mambo claims to be in the most beautiful spot in Buda at the foot of Gellert Hill - although what St Gellert would have made of the entertainment now on offer is anybody's guess!